Composting By: Jenna DavisECE Graduation Project21 February 2013

What is Composting? Composting encourages the production

of certain microorganisms which break down organic matter to make humus. Humus is a rich nutrient filled material,

which increases the nutrient content in soils and helps it retain moisture (Environmental Benefits- Compost Enriches Soil).

Types of Composting There are three main types of composting;

and each one requires slightly different maintenance habits.

Depending on the type of composter is used dictates how long the process lasts and its difficulty.

In order from greatest to the least amount of maintenance is aerobic composting, Vermicomposting, anaerobic composting.

Aerobic Composting Creates high temperatures and requires

high maintenance and moisture. Best used when large loads are being

composted (Types of Composting/ According To its Nature).

Compost requires daily rotation or stirring to keep the air inside.

Aerobic Composting Cont. The movement generated keeps the air

circulating to keep the temperature high. Internal temperature of the composter can

reach up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit The temperature causes fast growing bacteria

and high nitrogen levels from the waste effectively breaking down the materials.

Green waste is the main type of waste used in Aerobic composting. Ex: lawn clippings or grass.

Examples of Aerobic Composters

The photographs above are of the composter that I built as

part of my Graduation Project Product.

Vermicomposting “Worm composting can reduce your garbage

disposal costs, produces less odor and pests that garbage attracts, requires little space, little maintenance, and little labor” (Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage).

Vermicomposters require the following materials: Orts (food scraps), oxygen and moisture, red worms,

bacteria, fungi, and other insects and bugs. Too much food inside of the composter can cause

strong odors due to the organism’s inability to consume the excessive amount of waste (Types of Composting Benefits-of-Recycling).

Not enough food is placed inside just as any other living being starvation will result in death.

Examples of Vermicomposting

Anaerobic Composting Anaerobic composting works by stacking debris in a

closed off space As the pile builds eventually the space will become too

compact for oxygen to remain inside. Anaerobic literally means without air (Types of Composting/ According to Its Nature)

Anaerobic is basically the opposite of aerobic composting from its lack of required maintenance and oxygen.

“Anaerobic composting is low maintenance since you simply throw it in a pile and wait a couple years. If you just stack your debris in a pile it will generally compact to the point where there is no available air for beneficial organisms to live”(Types of Composting/ According to its Nature) .

Examples of Anaerobic Composting

A World Without Composting When people don’t compost or recycle all of the waste

goes to a land fill and is eventually burned. The main issue with landfills is that when a leak occurs

there is no way of being notified until the water in the surrounding community is contaminated. 82% of the landfills reported leaks whereas 42% of the

landfills had leaks from gaps as large as one square foot. With as many as 3,091 active landfills, the United

States has much room for growth in environmental improvement.

Unfortunately, there is no federal plan to enforce composting, so it’s up to Americans to get self-motivated and start (Landfills- Zero Waste America).

Why Should Composting be Used?

Composting has been proven to help the prevention of plant diseases and pests.

It also eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers, and promote higher yields of agricultural crops (Environmental Benefits- Composting Enriches Soils

Why Should Composting be Used? Cont.

“America generates more waste every year, growing from 247 million tons of non-hazardous waste in 1990, to 409 million tons in 2001.” (Landfills -Zero Waste America)

If just 5% of the food wasted was recovered, America would have one day’s worth of food for 4 million people (Throwing Away Food).

“North Carolina alone is estimated to waste about 420,000 tons of food” (Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage)

Economic Benefits of Composting

” Water is the most expensive addition to the vegetable garden and orchard” (Why Make Compost).

The water the soil can retain will increase up to 50% meaning that for the avid gardener their water bill can be reduced almost in half (Why Make Compost?).

So their compost just reduced the amount of money they spend on their water bills.

Economic Benefits of Composting Cont.

Composting also cuts down on time and energy spent in the garden, and as well known in today’s economy time is money.

As mentioned composing improves the soil, one of the effects of the improved soil is the reduction of weeds. The composted soil prevents the sun from reaching the weed

seedling making weeds harder to grow in this new environment (Why Make Compost?).

In normal garden weeds are hard to get rid of without the use of a chemical killer or an excessive amount of physical labor, but with compost what weed to show are much easier to pull (Why Make Compost?).

Also the compost soil doesn’t compact making digging and planting much simpler.

Erosion also becomes more difficult causing replacement of garden beds to decrease; combined these benefits save money spent to maintain a garden (Why Make Compost?).

Economic And Environmental Benefits of Composting

Cont. The amount of waste being sent to landfills is

reduced, along with the risk of drinking water being contaminated.

More water is conserved with the increased absorption of the soil (Why Make Compost?).

Methane gases are reduced from the conversion of nitrogen from the green waste, and that helps protect the atmosphere.

The money that could have been wasted when food is thrown out is invested into new ways to help save the planet.

Summary Overall composting has much more to offer than

the amount of costs for composting to not be as widely recognized.

The biggest cost would be the money spent to build or purchase one of the three types of composter’s.

From the point of buying a composter no other money would be spent, except what money is already spent on food and other organic materials.

With such few costs an anomaly remains as to why America continues to be a contributor to the environmental free fall.

Summary Cont. Even with the help of recycling, not all

waste is disposed of in proper ways. Composting is a low budget and an

excellent way to dispose of organic matter, and yet there is still no federal plan in motion to enforce it (Landfills- Zero Waste America).

All Americans should compost not only to save money but also save the planet.

America helps by composting today; the Earth is more safe and accommodating tomorrow.